Why is Mothercare so expensive yet grotty?

[Two4One]

I was looking around my local Mothercare today and then again online when I got home. I have noticed that they are consistently more expensive than John Lewis, Boots etc for exactly the same items. Why does anyone still shop there? And the weird thing is, the stores are so horrid and everything "looks" so cheap and nasty (especially the clothes) you don't really want to buy there anyway. And as for the staff - they just look downtrodden and unhelpful.

This is my first time doing all this - I just always assumed Mothercare was a cheap shop. But everything I have bought so far has been significantly cheaper in John Lewis, Boots or any of the supermarkets. And the service is far better.

So how do they stay in business? I can see why a shop like, say, Selfridges, does well despite being a bit pricier for the same products than other dept. stores. They're offering a quality shopping experience that people enjoy. But Mothercare??? Who is shopping there?

Their customer service is awful but not everything is overpriced. I am going to buy a pram/pushchair combo in MC for £385, similar models elsewhere are around £2-300 more expensive, the quality may not be as great as other models but it is good enough.

My local Mothercare in York is fab!! Everyone seems really friendly and helpful, we have loads of clothes from Mothercare that have gone through 2 babies and are still the same as the day we bought them.

But their online is rubbish!! I ordered loads of maternity pads, some breastfeeding bras and some pjs at the start of November 08 and they finally arrived at the end of Feb 09. DS2 was born in the middle of December. I ended up sending it all back and got a full refund and a £50 voucher so not all bad.

I find our two local stores neither expensive nor grotty.

Both are clean and tidy, well laid out, enough spaces for prams, etc. There are toilets and changing areas that are clean and spacious and also feeding rooms.

The one on edge of town has a large accessible car park.

Have never found it particularly pricy either.

Dd is now too old for their clothes so I don't go in often except for school tights and wellies. But always seemed fine when I went in in the past.

I find our two local stores neither expensive nor grotty.

Both are clean and tidy, well laid out, enough spaces for prams, etc. There are toilets and changing areas that are clean and spacious and also feeding rooms.

The one on edge of town has a large accessible car park.

Have never found it particularly pricy either.

Dd is now too old for their clothes so I don't go in often except for school tights and wellies. But always seemed fine when I went in in the past.

I bought a pram from Mothercare years ago and within a few weeks the material split.

Took it back and they sent it for repair and lent me the same model while mine was away.

We were at a duck pond one day with the pram parked when it rolled down a slight slope into the water.

The baby was fine I was drenched, hurt, and stuff like my watch and camera were ruined.

Turns out the brake was faulty and when we complained we became embroiled in a dispute with them which lasted months, during which time we were pramless as they refused to return my pram until the problem was resolved.

I will never, ever shop with them again and given what I do (foster new babies) they must have lost a small fortune over the years.

I can't comment on the Mothercare staff- there were none around to comment on!

Looking at pushchairs, their sale prices brought the cost down to that of John Lewis' full price.

The store is incredibly overcrowded and poorly laid out. They do have a full range of toilets though (I got lost!)

Much preferred the Mamas & Pappas a few doors down (especially for clothes and the space to move/ browse)- and the sale prices were superb!

I have never bought a thing from our local mothercare (south east london)because there is never enough staff to ask questions and the queues to be served were too long. And the mother and baby rooms have always been disgusting.
However in other stores around the country I have been pleasantly surprised, and I could not fault the mother and baby room in the Norwich store.

My mother was always sniffy about them, she thought even in the seventies their stuff wasn't great and went elsewhere for baby stuff when we were little.

Isitmeor - oh I agree shops don't take things back just because you change your mind! My point to the staff was that as my baby had arrived 6 weeks early I had no need for a maternity dress for the wedding and I had hoped that they would understand and give me a refund, given that I hadn't just changed my mind but actually was prematurely non-pregnant.

Their attitude was completely 'coulnd't care less'.

I'm glad so many agree with me I was starting to wonder if I was just a snob. well, probably a bit.

Can I just reiterate in the interests of being very anal - it is not my opinion that they are expensive - it's fact. £59.99 for the Medela Mini Breast Pump is the most expensive I've seen it anywhere. Fact. Fact. Fact.

I wonder if the grottiness is a London thing. The store I've been referring to is in East London. Perhaps the ones in more affluent areas are nicer.

It definitely needs a makeover!

I've never found Mothercare in our area to be grotty (S.Devon) but I do however find them to be very pricey. I usually go to Mothercare world because they have a Clarks shoe store inside, comes in handy with 2 school age DC's. One side of this store is Next and the other Boots so it's a wonder they ever sell anything really.

Baby clothes are ok but for older kids the selection, range and price are totally shocking!

When I had my DD I bought a 3 in 1 pram from Mothercare on the Nursery plan, with that you pre-select a delivery date. Needless to say it didn't arrive until after my due date (thankfully DD was late). Mothercare were totally unhelpful in this situation and didn't seem to see the urgency even though the baby car seat was part of the package.

Staff are polite and helpful though but that's about the only good point!!

Ok, purely on the basis of scientific enquiry and the fact I am getting too fat to wear my normal clothes now, I went into a nice Mothercare today and actually bought something and the staff were very pleasant! (it was in Tamworth btw) but I have a longer mental list of MC stores to avoid.

Yay heated! My local MothercareWorld is Tamworth so I am right in my defence of the staff! The assistant manager there used to be my manager at ELC but transferred after mat leave. She will go out of her way to help customers and is really friendly.

Sorry got stupidly excited that someone stuck up for one of my local stores...
I need to get out more.

My local Mothercare has a baby feeding area next to the loo which stinks of unemptied nappy bins. My local John Lewis has a lovely clean and fresh changing area with nursing chairs. When buying a Maclaren for DD I think the price diff for the same model in Mothercare and John Lewis was about £40 with Mothercare being the more expensive option.

Have also had terrible experience of online ordering at Mothercare website and will never use it again.

Shocking really.

I have a friend who is in baby products quality control. Apparently Mothercare is rubbish and Boots are among the best.

What do you mean mrsmandm? As far as im aware boots dont have their own brand baby products do they?

Boots have a range of baby and toddler cothes (Mini Mode) and they have lovely colourful designs and wash really well IMO

Ohhh I was thinking like bouncers and cots etc, clothes didnt even occur to me lol.
Yes I love boots clothes really bright and funky.

I hate our Mothercare, they are often out of stock of the most obvious things and it is messy, expensive and badly laid out. But I do still go there sometimes because:

• sometimes they are the only place I can find the size of vests I want.
• they are the only place locally that you can try a range of car seats (then buy it online).
• they are a good place to test drive push chairs as they have loads.

I rate Boots and supermarkets for clothes and other baby stuff.

I do think the place could make a lot more profit if someone that could be arsed took it over.

Mini Mode are fab, their range goes up to 6yrs, but wish they went to at least 10.

AmazingBouncingFerret, glad to have excited someone this evening! Was served by a manager, no idea if it was your friend, but she had shoulder length, glossy black hair and a fringe, if that helps, and was very friendly. Bought some flattering maternity wear that I hadn't seen in the other Mothercare stores I'd been to - again their stock is so variable. Nice clothes for babies/toddlers under 3, but couldn't find anything appropriate in the 3+ range that wasn't overpriced, sloganized or TV branded, tatt.

My brother was once offered the job to manage the account for the Mothercare website, but took another job instead. But the whole online system needs an overhaul as their stock control is dire.

Oops, posted too soon. When I went in a few weeks later and asked in a different store about the coat (I wanted to pay with vouchers and couoldn't online) it turned out that they could order the coat in to the store for me and I could buy it that way.

Oh god ignore me, don't think the first half of my message posted but just take it that i agree with you op!

i actually work in a mothercare store...not naming as dont want to get the sack!!
i do agree some of our prices are a little more expensive than other retailers but isnt that across the board, u only have to look at sainsburys asda morrisons and tesco's and the "money comparison" adverts that are on the tv constant! mothercare are aware of this, hense the reason we offer price matching service. kiddicare, u will not get the aftercare service that we offer with all pushchairs now coming with a two year garantee!!!
totally disagree with anybody that says clothing range is rubish, i have worked for mothercare now for 4years and i think it has improved emensly!!! take the baby k range, designed by myleen klass what a great names brand at a good price with good quality materials and very stylish too...as for maternity, yes there are alot of bra's thats are not that preety to look at but atleast you can get a matching set and great support unlike any other store...especially marks and spencer.
i come from a store that has not had a refit for quite some time but our full time dedicated and passionate staff along with managment work hard to make the most of the space we have so you as customers can see the whole range and still be able to push a double buggy arround the isles.
yes there are things we can improve on but it doesnt come over night with part time staff coming and going to fit in with schooling, if you guys really want to make a thing of saying how terrible these stores are, write which one you went to!!! head office and store managers look at all your comments, and lets face it its easier than writing to head office there selves!!! something WILL get done about you bad experiance if u have one. but a GOOD letter wouldnt go a miss either...tell the other mummys what a good service you go, after all you would recoment a good shop for shoes, dresses etc!!!
enough said i think

a very dedicated and proud member of the mothercare/early learning centre team

we actually got ok customer service at our local mothercare. We got ignored for a bit, possibly as we look quite young and we were in very casual clothes having just been for a walk, but when I went up to one they agreed to help with looking at prams and car seats (and suddenly became even more helpful when they discovered what car we drove ). They actually seemed fairly knowledgable about the car seats (I'd already done my research but it was helpful that they said the same things I had been saying, and helped me persuade DH). However, they didn't have the car seat or pram we wanted in stock (and they're both pretty common makes) and we were going to have to wait weeks for them. We went home and DH looked online and found an independent retailer, we managed to purchase the same pram and car seat for over £200 less than the mothercare price, and everything arrived within a week. I thought both the uncompetitive costs and long time delays for ordering things were very unimpressive, and that they were letting down the actually quite knowledgeable shop assistant.